Knowledge Update

​New York, Oct 26 (IANS) Increased exposure to air pollution may cause damage and inflammation to blood vessels among young and healthy adults and thus raise the risk of cardiovascular disease and other related deaths, say researchers, including one of Indian-origin.

The study revealed how air pollution actually affects the blood vessels to increase the risk of disease, which was previously unknown.

The researchers found that periodic exposure to fine particulate matter was associated with several abnormal changes in the blood that are markers for cardiovascular disease.

As air pollution rose, they found small, micro-particles indicating cell injury and death significantly increased in number, levels of proteins that inhibit blood vessel growth increased, and proteins that signify blood-vessel inflammation also showed significant increases.

"Although we have known for some time that air pollution can trigger heart attacks or strokes in susceptible, high-risk individuals, the finding that it could also affect even seemingly healthy individuals suggests that increased levels of air pollution are of concern to all of us, not just the sick or the elderly," said Aruni Bhatnagar, Professor at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, US.

"These findings suggest that living in a polluted environment could promote the development of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke more pervasively and at an earlier stage than previously thought," Bhatnagar added.

Healthcare providers should consider the cardiovascular effects of air pollution on all patients, not just those who are ill or elderly, the researchers suggested.

For the study, investigators analysed the component of air pollution known as fine particulate matter (PM2.5) -- the tiny pieces of solid or liquid pollution emitted from motor vehicles, factories, power plants, fires, and smoking in 72 healthy, non-smoking, adults.

The results were published in the journal Circulation Research.

New York, Oct 26 (IANS) Have you ever wondered why some people just cannot stick to a planned diet while others face no such issues? They may just not be wired for that, suggests a new study that found a link between ability to self-regulate a healthy body weight and individual brain structure.

Dieting success may be easier for some people because they have an improved white matter mechanism connecting the executive control and reward systems in their brain, the study, published in the journal Cognitive Neuroscience, said.

The research involved a group of thirty six chronic dieters, with mean body fat of 29.6 per cent.

Pin-Hao Andy Chen from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, US and colleagues asked them to make simple judgements on images in order to divert their attention from the real aim of the task.

The activity carried out was a food cue reactivity task designed to localise the executive control and reward areas in the brain, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

After localising the executive control and reward areas, the researchers used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to identify the white matter track connecting these areas in order to quantify the integrity within this tract.

The functional MRI results demonstrated that dieters showed greater reactivity to food images than control images.

The DTI results further showed that those with lower body fat percentages showed greater white matter integrity between executive control and reward areas of the brain.

"Individuals with reduced integrity may have difficulty in overriding rewarding temptations, leading to a greater chance of becoming obese than those with higher structural integrity," the researchers said.

Vatican City, Oct 26 (IANS/AKI) Fences are being erected in some countries to keep out migrants and refugees, but this only aids the criminal organisations who traffick human beings, Pope Francis said Wednesday.

"Today, the current economic crisis unfortunately fosters attitudes of closure instead of welcome," Francis told pilgrims at his weekly general audience in St Peter's Square. 

"In some parts of the world walls and barriers are being built. But this actually ends up favouring criminal trafficking," he stated.

The only solution to the phenomenon of migration is solidarity, Francis said.

"Solidarity with the migrant, solidarity with the 'foreigner'. It appears that the silent work of men and women who, in different ways, do what they can to help and assist refugees and migrants, is being drowned out by the noise made by those who give voice to an instinctive egoism." 

The growing influx of refugees fleeing war, famine and dire poverty requires Christians to welcome and care for them, as they have done through the ages, said Francis.

"Dioceses, parishes, religious institutes, organisations and individual Christians: we are all called to welcome our brothers and sisters who are fleeing war, hunger, violence and cruel conditions of life.

"As followers of Christ, may we never close our hearts to those in need."

New York, Oct 26 (IANS) Adding whole eggs to a colourful salad boosts the amount of vitamin E the body absorbs from the vegetables, says a study.

"We found vitamin E absorption was four- to seven-fold higher when three whole eggs were added to a salad," said Jung Eun Kim from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana US.

"This study is novel because we measured the absorption of Vitamin E from real foods, rather than supplements, which contain mega-dose amounts of Vitamin E," Kim noted.

Vitamin E, which is absorbed along with dietary fats, is often found in oils, seeds and nuts.

Eggs, a nutrient-rich food containing essential amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids and B vitamins, also contain a small amount of vitamin E. 

This study accounted for how much total vitamin E was absorbed when vitamin E containing foods were co-consumed with whole eggs. 

This research supports a way to increase the absorption of vitamin E found in foods that contain low dietary fat. 

Also, this research highlights how one food can improve the nutrition value of another food when they are consumed together.

"Now consumers can easily improve their diets by adding eggs to a salad that boasts a variety of colourful vegetables," Wayne Campbell, Professor of Nutrition Science at Purdue University pointed out.

The findings were published in The Journal of Nutrition.

​Dhaka, Oct 26 (IANS) Bangladesh leads South Asia in gender equity, at world rank 72, followed by India at rank 87, in the Global Gender Gap Index 2016 prepared by the World Economic Forum. Pakistan figures at a lowly 143 in the ranking.

After India comes Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, Bhutan and Pakistan, in that order.

Iceland is ranked the first country in the Global Gender Gap Index of 144 countries.

According to the report, Bangladesh recorded progress in political empowerment gender gap, but its gap on women's labour force participation and estimated earned income widened.

The report found that the US fell from 28th place in 2015 to 45th when it came to closing the gap. The World Economic Forum (WEF) said that is primarily due to a more transparent measure for estimated earned income.

Through the Global Gender Gap Report, the WEF quantifies the magnitude of gender disparities and tracks their progress over time, with a specific focus on the relative gaps between women and men across four key areas: health, education, economy and politics.

​New York, Oct 26 (IANS) An experimental drug developed to combat Alzheimer's disease has the potential to prevent inflammation, remove abnormal protein clumps in the brain as well as restore memory in the patients suffering from the neurodegenerative disease, a study has found.

Development of abnormal protein clumps called amyloid plaques and tangled bundles of fibers in the brain -- key characteristic of Alzheimer's disease -- causes inflammation in the brain and damage to the neurons. This progressive damage leads to memory loss, confusion and dementia. 

The new drug, known as NTRX-07, appears to decrease this inflammation in the brain, while preserving neurons and regenerative cells in the brain, the study stated.

"This drug may reduce inflammation in the brain, which is linked to Alzheimer's disease," said lead researcher Mohamed Naguib, Professor at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine in Ohio, US. 

The new drug improved removal of abnormal amyloid plaques and improved memory performance and other cognitive skills.

"NTRX-07 uses a different mechanism than many other Alzheimer's drugs currently available, as it targets the cause of the disease, not just the symptoms," Naguib said.

In the study conducted on mice, NTRX-07 was found to target CB2 receptors -- receptors on the surface of microglia cells or immune cells that typically remove dangerous amyloid plaques in the brain. 

The mice treated with NTRX-07 also showed an increase in the levels of SOX2 -- protein that helps new brain cells to develop and protect the brain in people with Alzheimer's disease. 

In contrast, mice treated with a placebo showed decreased levels of SOX2, active inflammation in the brain, poor removal of amyloid plaques, and poor memory performance.

The study was presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2016 annual meeting in Chicago, recently.

Washington, Oct 26 (IANS) Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have started planting their third on-orbit crop of red romaine lettuce, NASA said.

"Early this morning, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough initiated the Veg-03 experiment, one of his first science assignments as a new crew member aboard the orbiting laboratory," the US space agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

Astronomers are using a plant growth system called "Veggie" for their experiment.

The Veg-03 crop will be the Veggie team's first on-orbit attempt at a new, repetitive harvest technique termed ‘Cut-and-Come-Again'.

"Once the plants are approximately four weeks old, a selection of leaves can be harvested for a bit of fresh lettuce and possibly science samples. Meanwhile, some leaves are left intact along with the core of the plant, and will continue to grow and produce more leaves," explained said Nicole Dufour, NASA's Veggie project manager. 

"We expect this will increase the on-orbit crop yield, as well as allow for more opportunities to supplement our astronauts' diets with fresh, nutritious food from the same plants, which is an important goal of the ‘pick-and-eat' food concept," Dufour noted.

The team is anxiously awaiting germination results, expected early next week, Dufour said.

Astronauts on future long-duration space missions will need to be able to grow their own food to supplement their diets. 

Using the Veggie plant growth facility aboard the station, Veg-03 builds on the successes of previous studies, including Veg-01, which resulted in the first-ever on-orbit harvest and sampling of fresh produce during the summer of 2015. 

Techniques learned from Veggie crops will help NASA prepare for the Journey to Mars.

​Washington, Oct 26 (IANS) In good news for stroke and spinal cord injury patients, researchers have designed a lower-limb robot exoskeleton -- a wearable robot that features natural knee movement to help patients regain the ability to walk or help strengthen their muscles.

Researchers from Beihang University in China and Aalborg University in Denmark developed the wearable robot to greatly improve patients' comfort and willingness to wear it for gait rehabilitation.

The team's approach focused on the knee joint, one of the most complex mechanical systems within the human body and a critical player during gait.

The knee joint's motion is actuated by several skeletal muscles along its articular surfaces, and its center of rotation moves.

"Our new design features a parallel knee joint to improve the bio-imitability and adaptability of the exoskeleton," explained Weihai Chen, professor at Beihang University.

Movement transparency is critical when wearing a robot for gait rehab.

When wearing the exoskeleton, its movement should be synchronised and consistent with a patient's natural movement.

For this, the team focused on bionic mechanical design.

"To improve the transparency of the robot, we studied the structure of the human body, then built our model based on a biometric design of the lower limb exoskeleton," Chen said.

This design is the first known use of a parallel mechanism at the knee joint to imitate skeletal muscles.

As far as its applications, the exoskeleton's main role will be to help stroke or spinal cord injury patients with their rehab.

"We plan to streamline it to be wearable and to provide a comfortable training experience," Chen noted in the journal Review of Scientific Instruments.

The team is also developing virtual reality games to help make the training process more enjoyable.

The next step for the team is to collaborate with hospitals, because testing the robot out with patients can provide critical feedback from patients and doctors.

London, Oct 25 (IANS) A protein found in the blood of pregnant women could be used to develop tests to determine the health of their babies and aid decisions on early elective deliveries, a study reveals.

Low levels of the blood marker known as DLK1 can predict poor foetal growth and complications in pregnancy, and could be used as a non-invasive prenatal diagnostic, the study suggested.

"Measuring DLK1 levels in the mother's blood could be a reliable and non-invasive way of predicting whether there are likely to be complications, especially those that cause reduced nutrient supply to the baby," said Marika Charalambous, researcher at the Queen Mary University of London.

DLK1 is a protein that is found in high levels in the mother's blood during pregnancy, in humans and rodents. But little has been known about its source, what it does, and whether it can indicate anything about the health of a foetus.

The study published in the journal Nature Genetics initially used mice experiments that involved knocking out the gene in either the foetus or the mother, and then measuring the mother's DLK1 level to determine its source.

The researchers found that the protein originates from the embryo which means that its levels in maternal blood could provide a direct readout of the embryo's biological state.

The researchers studied 129 first-time mothers, taking measurements of DLK1 levels in their blood and recording the outcomes of their pregnancies. 

They found that low DLK1 levels were associated with reduced growth of the foetus resulting from pregnancy complications, including poor blood flow through the umbilical cord.

The team then looked at how DLK1 affects the metabolism of a pregnant mouse. When fasting for 24 hours, humans start a process known as 'ketosis', which is what the Atkins diet is based on, and involves burning the energy from fat stores to keep the body functioning.

When DLK1 was inactivated in pregnant mice, their fasting response was impaired by not being able to begin ketosis. This indicated the importance of DLK1 in providing energy for the foetus and their growth, and DLK1 levels in the mother were found to be a good predictor of the mass of their offspring.

​Sydney, Oct 25 (IANS) Increased muscle strength may help to improve brain function in adults who suffer from mild cognitive impairment (MCI), shows a new study.

MCI defines people who have reduced cognitive abilities such as reduced memory, but are still able to live independently. It is a precursor to Alzheimer's disease.

The findings published in the Journal of American Geriatrics show a positive causal link between muscle adaptations to progressive resistance training and the functioning of the brain among those over the age of 55 with MCI.

"What we found in this follow-up study is that the improvement in cognition function was related to their muscle strength gains. The stronger people became, the greater the benefit for their brain," said Yorgi Mavros, researcher at the University of Sydney, Australia.

The study participants were aged between 55 and 86 and were divided into four groups doing either: resistance exercise and computerised cognitive training; resistance exercise and a placebo computerised training (watching nature videos); brain training and a placebo exercise programme (seated stretching/calisthenics); or placebo physical exercise and placebo cognitive training.

Participants doing resistance exercise prescribed weight lifting sessions twice week for six months, working to at least 80 per cent of their peak strength. As they got stronger, the amount of weight they lifted on each machine was increased to maintain the intensity at 80 per cent of their peak strength.

The cognitive training and placebo activities did not have this benefit. The benefits persisted even 12 months after the supervised exercise sessions ended.

"The more we can get people doing resistance training like weight lifting, the more likely we are to have a healthier ageing population," Mavros added.

The study suggested that exercising frequently, at least twice a week and at a high intensity will give the maximum benefit for brain.